The atmosphere of the main conference room was very different from the first day when Park Jin-hyuk had called the board of directors together.
The number of people seated had dropped to a third, giving the room a rather deserted feel.
Even though there were fewer people in the conference room, the air was heavier than when they’d discussed the restructuring of the executive team.
“So in the end, the problem is money, isn’t it?”
Park Jin-hyuk sat at the head of the table, spinning his pen with his fingers, and asked Gwak Seok-ki, who was standing and presenting to the executives.
Gwak Seok-ki had just finished explaining the financial situation of DS Construction at length.
Judging from the current financial state, he had described how concerns over capital impairment were likely to arise soon.
Even though those present weren’t unaware of DS Construction’s situation, seeing it broken down in numbers made it clear to everyone just how serious things had become.
“Yes. That’s right. It’s the money.”
“What’s the plan to solve the money issue?”
“The easiest way to raise funds would be a paid-in capital increase.”
“Paid-in capital increase?”
“Yes. According to our calculations, if we carry out a capital increase of about 800 billion won, we believe we can temporarily stave off the capital impairment that DS Construction is expected to face.”
“Temporarily, you say?”
“Yes. It’s about buying time. The ultimate goal is to normalize our operations with the funds we raise.”
“An 800 billion won paid-in capital increase…”
Park Jin-hyuk fell silent and glanced around.
Everyone seemed to agree with Gwak Seok-ki’s suggestion.
Injecting funds through a paid-in capital increase would not only address the capital impairment but also resolve the operating capital issue in one shot.
However, Park Jin-hyuk felt that the first proposal Gwak Seok-ki had brought wasn’t the best option.
After nodding, Park Jin-hyuk turned to Gwak Seok-ki and asked again.
“Then, what’s the second option?”
“You mean the second option?”
“Yes, the second option.”
Gwak Seok-ki looked flustered by Park Jin-hyuk’s question and glanced at Hyun Yi-su.
The second option wasn’t something he was supposed to answer.
Park Jin-hyuk, watching Gwak Seok-ki struggle, tapped the table with his pen as he spoke.
Tap tap tap.
“You didn’t come here without a second option, did you?”
Park Jin-hyuk thought back to the days of Yoo Jung-geol and smiled to himself.
The audience may not realize, but the presenter must always prepare a second proposal—this was a basic rule.
And as someone who had been through more of these meetings than anyone, Park Jin-hyuk brought up the second option first.
He knew better than anyone that the first proposal only served to make the second one look better.
Hyun Yi-su, receiving Gwak Seok-ki’s gaze, shook his head and got up to walk to the front.
Gwak Seok-ki naturally gave way, and after signaling with his hand to flip to the next page, Hyun Yi-su spoke to Park Jin-hyuk.
“At present, there are no issues with DS Construction’s order backlog.”
On the screen were listed the annual order volumes, project statuses, and the contract amounts for each project.
Hyun Yi-su pointed at the overseas projects with a laser pointer as he continued.
“There are no problems with the projects being carried out domestically. Since most are awarded within the DS affiliates, there’s no anxiety about uncollected payments. Orders are stable, progress is smooth, and the outlook remains within expectations. However, as you can see, the problem lies with our overseas projects.”
One project in particular stood out among those Hyun Yi-su indicated.
Hyun Yi-su also pointed to that project with his pointer.
“In terms of scale, these projects exceed the domestic ones, and we had high hopes that they would become our new sources of profit. But everything has gone awry. Especially this Iraq reconstruction project—this is where the issue lies.”
As he listened, arms folded, Park Jin-hyuk recalled the dinner he’d had in Seongbuk-dong.
A comment tossed out by his aunt, Lee Sun-myung, currently chairwoman of Dongjeong Industries, was now up on the screen for all to see.
“This Basmaya Project is a large-scale construction deal near Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, to build 100,000 housing units and social infrastructure. The accumulated contract amount is 10.1 billion dollars. In Korean won, that’s 12 trillion. After securing this project, we expected DS Construction to break into the top 10 construction firms within five years—it was a make-or-break project for our company.”
An accumulated order amount of 12 trillion won.
For DS Construction, which so far had merely maintained the ‘construction company’ label within the DS Group, this was the sort of project that could transform it into a genuine general contractor.
Even Park Jin-hyuk, who didn’t know much about construction, had heard about this project—it was so large it had made the news at the time.
“But now this project is holding us back. Even though we’ve reached 30% progress, we haven’t received any payment. Because of this, accounts receivable two years ago exceeded 180 billion won, and last year it rose to 240 billion. Now, just in the first half of this year, receivables are expected to reach 300 billion won. Thanks to the Basmaya Project, DS Construction’s cumulative outstanding receivables are about to surpass 1 trillion won.”
Everyone’s faces tightened at Hyun Yi-su’s presentation.
Though the summary was brief, the sharply rising slope of receivables was impossible to ignore.
Checking the heavy mood, Hyun Yi-su turned off the pointer and stepped forward.
“This Basmaya Project accounts for nearly half of our order backlog. Unless we resolve this, there’s no point talking about restructuring—our very survival is at risk.”
Tap tap tap.
Park Jin-hyuk listened to Hyun Yi-su and tapped the table with his pen.
In the silent conference room, even the sound of someone swallowing would echo, so his tapping pen resounded even louder.
It was the sort of noise that might get on one’s nerves, yet nobody dared to ask Park Jin-hyuk to stop.
No one could tell what he was thinking.
After tapping for a while, Park Jin-hyuk stopped and pointed his pen at Hyun Yi-su.
“All right. Let’s talk about solutions. What’s your proposal, Deputy Chief Hyun?”
“The solution is to get the money. If we can collect the 680 billion won stuck in the Basmaya Project, we can restore receivables to normal levels and relieve the bottleneck in one go.”
“Really? Sounds simple enough.”
Park Jin-hyuk didn’t follow up with any further comment.
He nodded and looked around the room.
“If anyone has questions, now’s the time.”
But the people present only looked at each other, not saying a word.
At Park Jin-hyuk’s seemingly simple answer—that they should just collect the unpaid money—everyone was struck dumb.
Hyun Yi-su, too, was at a loss for words.
Park Jin-hyuk’s approach was completely different from any decision-maker he’d encountered before.
If it had been Park Jun-man, he’d have wanted a detailed solution and grilled everyone, no matter how long it took.
If it had been Suman Park, Park Jun-man’s younger brother and vice chairman of DS Group, he’d have thrown the mic and started berating them for calling that a solution.
But Park Jin-hyuk gave no reaction.
If anything, he seemed almost satisfied, which left Hyun Yi-su flustered and unsure how to respond.
Thud.
With no one breaking the silence, Park Jin-hyuk loudly placed his pen on the table.
“All right, let’s wrap up. These daily meetings are exhausting. Anyway, it’s good we found a solution. Please support Deputy Chief Hyun so we can overcome these challenges together.”
When Park Jin-hyuk finished speaking and stood up, the executives all rose and bowed as he left.
Leaving them behind, Park Jin-hyuk exited the conference room and headed to his office.
“Ah~. So tiring.”
Stretching his arms as if yawning and rolling his shoulders as he walked, Park Jin-hyuk was soon called by Hyun Yi-su, who hurried after him.
“Director.”
Park Jin-hyuk, still stretching, turned and smiled at Hyun Yi-su.
‘That’s right. That’s how it should be.’
The people Park Jin-hyuk needed most.
He needed them—and everyone under them—to move forward.
He knew he had to win them over, and to do that, he had to keep them intrigued about what kind of person Park Jin-hyuk really was.
With his reputation still in the gutter, approaching them directly would only drive them away.
So he had to draw them to him, and that’s why he kept acting in ways they couldn’t predict.
And now, Hyun Yi-su, unable to hold back, had come to him first.
“What is it?”
“Director, do you have a solution?”
Judging by how he’d handled the executive shakeup, Hyun Yi-su thought Park Jin-hyuk might have something in mind.
Park Jin-hyuk lowered his arms and stepped into the elevator as he answered.
“A solution? Didn’t you just propose one? We get the money. It’s simple and effective.”
“Director…”
Hyun Yi-su hesitated, unsure what to say.
While that was technically a solution, it wasn’t a real answer.
If everyone already knows the answer but it still hasn’t happened, then it’s not really an answer.
When the elevator reached the 22nd floor, Park Jin-hyuk entered his office and gave instructions to the secretaries outside.
“Tell the team leaders from the restructuring division to come up.”
After giving his order, Park Jin-hyuk entered the president’s office, with Hyun Yi-su following behind.
Seated in his chair, Park Jin-hyuk grinned while Hyun Yi-su stood before him, expressionless.
By the time Park Jin-hyuk had lit a cigarette and taken a few drags, the door opened and three team leaders entered.
They bowed to Park Jin-hyuk and Hyun Yi-su, then silently watched as Park Jin-hyuk smoked.
After finishing his cigarette down to the filter and stubbing it out, Park Jin-hyuk clasped his hands and addressed Hyun Yi-su.
“Deputy Chief Hyun, let’s not make things harder than they need to be.”
“Excuse me? What do you mean…?”
“I’ll be frank. I need you, Deputy Chief Hyun, and I need you three team leaders. Don’t you all need me as well?”
Neither Hyun Yi-su nor the three team leaders answered.
Park Jin-hyuk glanced at the numbers floating over Hyun Yi-su and their heads.
Six billion for Hyun Yi-su, and one billion each for the three team leaders.
Those numbers clearly showed that, whether it was for restructuring or taking control of the group, these were the people he absolutely needed.
But they still didn’t trust him.
Though Hyun Yi-su had been surprised by Park Jin-hyuk’s competence, and the team leaders had witnessed the shakeup among the executives, none of them were convinced yet that it translated into real ability at work.
Maybe they hadn’t spent enough time together, but even that seemed like a waste to Park Jin-hyuk.
Who knew when Oh Seo-young would make her move, or what kind of schemes the uncles he hadn’t even met might be plotting?
He needed to make these people his, and build a wall of allies around himself as soon as possible.
He believed these were the people who would become his shield.
“If we need each other, what’s the point of wasting time trying to figure out what kind of people we are? Don’t you agree?”
To Hyun Yi-su, Park Jin-hyuk was a constant surprise.
He no longer looked like a naive twenty-eight-year-old just learning about the world.
His words had the weight of a seasoned middle-aged professional.
And those eyes that saw right through his intentions.
That was something Park Jin-hyuk had never shown before.
“I’m not someone who’s going to stop at DS Construction. Deputy Chief Hyun, I doubt you are either. And you, team leaders—do you really want your careers to end here?”
Park Jin-hyuk opened his clasped hands wide.
“They always say not to make enemies in the workplace, especially if you want a long career. Never pick a side, they say. But think about it—if you have no enemies, you have no allies. When you’re in trouble, if you don’t have comrades at your side, how can you ever rise higher? None of you look like the kind of people who are content to just muddle through and get by. Right? So come with me—let’s climb to the top together. Let me take your hand.”
At those words, for the first time since meeting Park Jin-hyuk, a faint smile appeared on Hyun Yi-su’s otherwise expressionless face.
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